This is the first look at the hardcore Porsche Cayman GT4

Porsche's GT3 guru loves mid-engined cars. This is the result.

The 2014 911 GT3 engine fire debacle was a black eye for Porsche. As the smoke clears, though, there are a couple things we know. Porsche's commitment to the GT3 philosophy of keeping revs and driver involvement at a slow boil is intact, and it's being downsized. You see, the GT3's chief engineer, Andreas Preuniger, likes mid-engined platforms. This is the result: the Cayman GT3. Or possibly the Cayman GT4—both names are swirling around in the ether.

KGP Photography

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A spy shooter in Germany caught this Cayman mule out on the road, and in a glance we can see that this isn't any Cayman we've seen before. Unlike the GTS, which is the newest official Cayman variant, the front splitter wraps around all the way to the wheels, there's a vent on the top of the front bumper cap, and there's the massive rear wing whose shape loosely resembles that of a 911 GT3. Underneath that, there's a revised ducktail spoiler. It's lower than a normal Cayman, and it has larger brakes.

If we're all lucky, it'll get a proper manual too, unlike its big brother. If we're less lucky, it'll be the shockingly good PDK.